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As impressive as it sounds to say South Korea developed successfully on its own, did it? Did the US play any hand in its development? I mean obviously South Kor

As impressive as it sounds to say South Korea developed successfully on its own, did it? Did the US play any hand in its development? I mean obviously South Korea would not exist had it not been for the US' help in the war. But even afterwards, is there an sort of advantage South Korea had by having the US (the leading super power at the time) help?

nradov 3y ago
Sure, but the US also tried to help other countries such as the Philippines and Iraq which haven't done nearly as well. US aid doesn't seem to be the decisive factor.
- kjkjadksj 3y ago
  It seems like post war japan and south korea saw a lot of investment into their manufacturing. Why didn’t the philippines see a similar level of investment at the time considering it was also destroyed and in need for rebuilding? Not destroyed enough relative to the firebombings of the japan home islands perhaps?
  - blululu 3y ago
    The Philippines saw a massive amount of American investment after WWII. I don’t have exact figures but it is comparable to South Korea. There are lots of differences. One Marcos was the most corrupt politician in history (in terms of total money looted). Two, Korea benefited from cultural and geographic proximity to Japan. As a former colony it was able to sell low cost products on the Japanese market and secure manufacturing contracts from Japanese firms. Three you might also make a point about the influence of Confucianism and Protestantism on Korea. To this day Korea is a very Christian country by East Asian standards (~30%) and the Chaebols are more Protestant than the overall population. Contrast with the Catholic Philippines and you can make a classic Weberian case of work ethic.
  - eiiddei 3y ago
    Japan colonized, invaded, and stole Korea for about 35 years under the guise of imperialism. Japan's colonial policy was the most tyrannical, unauthorized, and vicious in that it aimed not only at socio-economic theft but also at ethnic extermination. The Japanese did not hesitate to revise the mental culture through history, suppress the use of the Korean language, and destroy national cultural heritage. The anti-Japanese independence struggle was so stubborn and steadfast that it became a model for minority peoples around the world and led to liberation. The detrimental effects of Japanese power on Korean history were so severe that they led to the division of Korea into North and South Korea.
fidotron 3y ago
On some level the success of South Korea is the success of Samsung. It is not clear how much you could separate the two.
- thriftwy 3y ago
  Why discount LG, Huyndai-Kia and even Daewoo? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol
  - fidotron 3y ago
    Samsung has been, at times, almost 20% of South Korean GDP. The others are big, but Samsung is enormous. Between them they are ridiculous.
gottorf 3y ago
I didn't mean to imply that South Korea developed all on its own. (A good example of a country that tried to do that, with closed borders, is its northern neighbor.) Certainly, having the foremost superpower in its corner helped tremendously, much like the Marshall Plan did for post-WW2 Western Europe. It's a fascinating history that I can in no way do justice in a HN comment, save to say that one can't simply throw money at a country and come out with a result like South Korea. :-)
- yobbo 3y ago
  To put the "Marshall Plan" into a modern perspective, it was equivalent to $173 billion in 2023 dollars, over a period of four years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan
boeingUH60 3y ago
The US provided a lot of support, which South Korea used well. But, several other countries got similar levels of support and achieved nothing...the corrupt leaders sold the country on the cheap.
1-6 3y ago
South Korea could have very well been used as the US's beachhead especially during a time when China and Japan were becoming growing empires. Several businesses also benefited from the prosperity of neighboring countries. The Korean news to this day reports on export trends because of it being an exports-based economy. A period of rapid easy growth has put Won into the pockets of Seoulites who merely became rich from just owning property. Unfortunately, this wealth did not propagate evenly throughout and the younger demographics are suffering today as a result.
- oska 3y ago
  > South Korea could have very well been used as the US's beachhead South Korea was and is used as "the US's beachhead". There is still a significant US military presence in the country even now.
CrackerNews 3y ago
It's arguable that Japan helped South Korea industrialize by offloading industries it could no longer afford due to rising wages. This article is about analyzing the comparison raised between South Korea and Ukraine, but it is largely about analyzing how South Korea industrialized from Japan's assistance. https://eventsinukraine.substack.com/p/the-ukraine-south-korea-comparison https://eventsinukraine.substack.com/p/the-ukraine-south-kor...
- thriftwy 3y ago
  Awesome article - thank you
mensetmanusman 3y ago
Yes, a military force present that helped them relax and spend more on growth versus negative growth defense spending.

nradov 3y ago

Sure, but the US also tried to help other countries such as the Philippines and Iraq which haven't done nearly as well. US aid doesn't seem to be the decisive factor.

kjkjadksj 3y ago
It seems like post war japan and south korea saw a lot of investment into their manufacturing. Why didn’t the philippines see a similar level of investment at the time considering it was also destroyed and in need for rebuilding? Not destroyed enough relative to the firebombings of the japan home islands perhaps?
- blululu 3y ago
  The Philippines saw a massive amount of American investment after WWII. I don’t have exact figures but it is comparable to South Korea. There are lots of differences. One Marcos was the most corrupt politician in history (in terms of total money looted). Two, Korea benefited from cultural and geographic proximity to Japan. As a former colony it was able to sell low cost products on the Japanese market and secure manufacturing contracts from Japanese firms. Three you might also make a point about the influence of Confucianism and Protestantism on Korea. To this day Korea is a very Christian country by East Asian standards (~30%) and the Chaebols are more Protestant than the overall population. Contrast with the Catholic Philippines and you can make a classic Weberian case of work ethic.
- eiiddei 3y ago
  Japan colonized, invaded, and stole Korea for about 35 years under the guise of imperialism. Japan's colonial policy was the most tyrannical, unauthorized, and vicious in that it aimed not only at socio-economic theft but also at ethnic extermination. The Japanese did not hesitate to revise the mental culture through history, suppress the use of the Korean language, and destroy national cultural heritage. The anti-Japanese independence struggle was so stubborn and steadfast that it became a model for minority peoples around the world and led to liberation. The detrimental effects of Japanese power on Korean history were so severe that they led to the division of Korea into North and South Korea.

fidotron 3y ago

On some level the success of South Korea is the success of Samsung. It is not clear how much you could separate the two.

thriftwy 3y ago
Why discount LG, Huyndai-Kia and even Daewoo? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol
- fidotron 3y ago
  Samsung has been, at times, almost 20% of South Korean GDP. The others are big, but Samsung is enormous. Between them they are ridiculous.

gottorf 3y ago

I didn't mean to imply that South Korea developed all on its own. (A good example of a country that tried to do that, with closed borders, is its northern neighbor.) Certainly, having the foremost superpower in its corner helped tremendously, much like the Marshall Plan did for post-WW2 Western Europe. It's a fascinating history that I can in no way do justice in a HN comment, save to say that one can't simply throw money at a country and come out with a result like South Korea. :-)

yobbo 3y ago
To put the "Marshall Plan" into a modern perspective, it was equivalent to $173 billion in 2023 dollars, over a period of four years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan

boeingUH60 3y ago

The US provided a lot of support, which South Korea used well. But, several other countries got similar levels of support and achieved nothing...the corrupt leaders sold the country on the cheap.

1-6 3y ago

South Korea could have very well been used as the US's beachhead especially during a time when China and Japan were becoming growing empires. Several businesses also benefited from the prosperity of neighboring countries. The Korean news to this day reports on export trends because of it being an exports-based economy. A period of rapid easy growth has put Won into the pockets of Seoulites who merely became rich from just owning property. Unfortunately, this wealth did not propagate evenly throughout and the younger demographics are suffering today as a result.

oska 3y ago
> South Korea could have very well been used as the US's beachhead South Korea was and is used as "the US's beachhead". There is still a significant US military presence in the country even now.

CrackerNews 3y ago

It's arguable that Japan helped South Korea industrialize by offloading industries it could no longer afford due to rising wages. This article is about analyzing the comparison raised between South Korea and Ukraine, but it is largely about analyzing how South Korea industrialized from Japan's assistance. https://eventsinukraine.substack.com/p/the-ukraine-south-korea-comparison https://eventsinukraine.substack.com/p/the-ukraine-south-kor...

thriftwy 3y ago
Awesome article - thank you

mensetmanusman 3y ago

Yes, a military force present that helped them relax and spend more on growth versus negative growth defense spending.